6 Hopkins St
Boulder
WA 6432
Environmental Services
Ground Masters are proud to be an environmentally ethical company and employ Sheridan Wakefield BSc of Littlefoot Logics on a consultant basis to ensure best practices across the range of their activities, particularly those relating to mine & exploration rehabilitation. Littlefoot Logics offer a range of environmental services including flora & fauna surveys, seed collection, impact assessments etc and are available to Ground Masters’ clients on a consultant basis.
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Site Rehabilitation
Part of the service on offer is the rehabilitation of sites, both current and historic, following up on drilling activity by removing sample bags, filling in sumps and preparing ground for natural revegetation. Our purpose-built, spring-loaded scarifiers are ideal for returning disturbed ground to a natural state, after which fallen and removed vegetation is returned to site whenever possible to create seed traps and assist with erosion prevention. Areas thus rehabbed have demonstrated excellent regeneration without any need for intervention or seeding.
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Scarifying versus Deep Ripping
Our environmentally-friendly loader fleet is ideally suited to both rehabilitation & clearing activities.
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Firstly the loader, acting without scarifiers, restores cleared areas to as close to original profile as possible removing any foreign materials and/or contaminated soils.
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The scarifiers are used in the final stages of where, after the ground is returned to a natural level, cleared areas are scarified and vegetation (which was stockpiled during the clearing process) is pulled back across sites to create seed traps and give a pleasing aesthetic.
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We do not recommend a deep ripping approach to rehabilitation/ revegetation! After trialling and researching deep ripping, as well as scarifying systems, we designed and purpose-built our present scarifier units. Ground Masters have had huge success with natural revegetation using this equipment, which highlights the benefits of the less intrusive approach to rehabilitation and revegetation.
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Some advantages are:
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The breaking up of compaction without disturbing the soil layers.
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The soil structure is maintained by not bringing up sub-soils and regolith. This in turn reduces erosion.
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Ground quickly returns to its former, natural condition.
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Uniform infiltration of rain.
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Immediately aesthetically pleasing appearance (no big boulders brought to the surface)
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Tree and plant growth is more uniform due to the smaller spacing between valleys and clefts.
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The size of valleys promotes tree root growth in all directions – not just parallel to valleys – which in turn promotes quick strong growth. (NB: It is a common problem with deep ripping that plant roots – trees especially - grow along the valleys where water collects and because of this, the trees are less stable and are often blown over in strong winds).
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The rate of production using this system of scarifying is almost twice a high as using a loader with deep ripping attachment.
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Scarification with the beginnings of regrowth
Loader with scarifier
Regrowth soon after scarification
